I think Barack Obama would be a great presidential nominee and I hope he wins more delegates than Hillary Clinton today. At the same time, I share most of Paul Krugman's reservations about Obama.
I see no contradiction between these two positions.
Just as Paul Krugman does not speak the gospel truth, neither does Barack Obama. Both are flawed.
I've been distressed by the extent to which many Obama supporters have demonized Krugman for his heretical views. (I'm sure the same could be said about many of Obama's detractors, but that doesn't excuse the Krugman-hate, nor is it the point of this entry.)
Rather than rehashing the merits of Krugman's position vis-a-vis Obama, I'd like to put Krugman's critiques in some perspective.
To do that, I've gone through every column written by Maureen Dowd, Bob Herbert, Paul Krugman, and Frank Rich since September 1, 2007. (I also looked through the columns of David Brooks and Gail Collins, but decided to exclude them from this analysis. Brooks is a conservative, and Collins tends to not be as polemical as Dowd, Rich, and Krugman. Herbert writes less frequently about the candidates than Collins, but when he does, he tends to take a more clear-cut position.)
Here's some of what I've found:
First, overall, the foursome has written 146 columns since September 1. 110 of those had nothing (or little) to do with the campaign. 36 (roughly one-quarter) were about the campaign.
Of those 36, 18 were anti-Hillary and 14 were anti-Obama. 3 were pro-Hillary, and 10 were pro-Obama. (A column can fall into more than one category.)
Of Bob Herbert's 39 columns, 6 (15%) were on the election. 2 were anti-Hillary, 1 was anti-Obama, 1 was pro-Hillary, and 4 were pro-Obama.
Of Paul Krugman's 44 columns, 8 (18%) were on the election. All were anti-Obama, with 2 also being pro-Hillary.
Of Maureen Dowd's 43 columns, 12 (28%) were on the the election. 9 were anti-Hillary and 5 were anti-Obama.
Of Frank Rich's 20 columns, 10 (50%) were on the election. 8 were anti Hillary and 6 were pro-Obama.
Excluding Krugman, there were 28 columns about the election. 18 of them (64% were anti-Hillary). 6 of them (21%) were anti-Obama. 10 (36%) were pro-Obama and 1 (4%) was pro-Hillary.
In short, other than Paul Krugman, the New York Times op-ed page has been a virtual love-fest for Barack Obama, and a hate-fest against Hillary Clinton.
Even with Krugman, the page is tilted against Hillary.
Now, I agree with much of what Frank Rich has written. (I detest Maureen Dowd's hackery and am mostly bored by Bob Herbert.) And, as I said, I hope Obama wins Super Tuesday.
My point, however, is that put in perspective of his colleagues, Paul Krugman is providing some necessary balance to the opinion page.
Not pro-Hillary balance -- but rather constructive criticism of Barack Obama.
One thing you'll notice if you read through the columns I analyzed (they are copied below) is that the criticisms of Hillary are far more likely to be personal in nature than are Krugman's criticisms of Obama, all of which are grounded in either policy or ideology.
Attacking Hillary's personality or character achieves nothing constructive; indeed, if anything, it makes you wonder the extent to which her "likeability" problem is created (or at least reinforced) by writers like Maureen Dowd.
Meanwhile, Krugman's criticisms of Obama are on things that Obama could actually do something about -- such as his health care policy.
I'm really under no illusion that extreme Obama partisans are ever going to agree with Krugman's critiques of Obama.
However, they really ought not demonize him. Indeed, they should keep in perspective the fact that 82% of his columns since September 1 have had nothing to do with Barack Obama. There's a lot of value to be found there.
Even if you think Paul Krugman is wrong about Barack Obama, I'd be surprised if you didn't find him to be right on a lot of other stuff.
Likewise, hopefully some of you are like me: I agree with Paul Krugman's criticisms of Barack Obama. At the same time, I think that at this point in time, Barack Obama is the best candidate for the Democratic Party.
I suspect that during the general election, once Obama gets the nomination -- assuming that he does -- Paul Krugman will be one of Obama's staunchest defenders.
Moreover, I suspect that Hillary Clinton's detractors won't be there for her if she wins the nomination. Unfortunately, that's part of the reason why I support Barack Obama.
I just wish Krugman bashers would keep that in mind the next time they feel the need to slam him.
::
Here are the articles from my analysis.
Anti-Hillary (18)
Will Rudy Let Her Rudy-Up? (Maureen Dowd, 16-Sep-07)
Is Hillary Clinton the New Old Al Gore? (Frank Rich, 30-Sep-07)
The Nepotism Tango (Maureen Dowd, 30-Sep-07)
Bomb, Bomb Iran (Maureen Dowd, 10-Oct-07)
She's No Morgenthau (Maureen Dowd, 21-Nov-07)
Behind the Curtain (Bob Herbert, 27-Nov-07)
Who’s Afraid of Barack Obama? (Frank Rich, 2-Dec-07)
Reefer Madness in Iowa (Maureen Dowd, 16-Dec-07)
A Résumé Can’t Buy You Love (Frank Rich, 23-Dec-07)
Deign or Reign? (Maureen Dowd, 2-Jan-08)
They Didn’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow (Frank Rich, 6-Jan-08)
Can Hillary Cry Her Way Back to the White House? (Maureen Dowd, 9-Jan-08)
Haven't We Heard This Voice Before? (Frank Rich, 13-Jan-08)
Ronald Reagan Is Still Dead (Frank Rich, 20-Jan-08)
Two Against One (Maureen Dowd, 23-Jan-08)
Questions for the Clintons (Bob Herbert, 26-Jan-08)
The Billary Road to Republican Victory (Frank Rich, 27-Jan-08)
There Will Be Blood (Maureen Dowd, 3-Feb-08)
Anti-Obama (14)
The 46-Year-Old Virgin (Maureen Dowd, 5-Sep-07)
Played for a Sucker (Paul Krugman, 16-Nov-07)
Behind the Curtain (Bob Herbert, 27-Nov-07)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Maureen Dowd, 2-Dec-07)
The Mandate Muddle (Paul Krugman, 7-Dec-07)
Big Table Fantasies (Paul Krugman, 17-Dec-07)
State of the Unions (Paul Krugman, 24-Dec-07)
Deign or Reign? (Maureen Dowd, 2-Jan-08)
Responding to Recession (Paul Krugman, 14-Jan-08)
Lessons of 1992 (Paul Krugman, 28-Jan-08)
Seeing Red Over Hillary (Maureen Dowd, 30-Jan-08)
The Edwards Effect (Paul Krugman, 1-Feb-08)
There Will Be Blood (Maureen Dowd, 3-Feb-08)
Clinton, Obama, Insurance (Paul Krugman, 4-Feb-08)
Pro-Hillary (3)
The Edwards Effect (Paul Krugman, 1-Feb-08)
Lowering the Volume (Bob Herbert, 2-Feb-08)
Clinton, Obama, Insurance (Paul Krugman, 4-Feb-08)
Pro-Obama (10)
Who’s Afraid of Barack Obama? (Frank Rich, 2-Dec-07)
The Republicans Find Their Obama (Frank Rich, 9-Dec-07)
Latter-Day Republicans vs. the Church of Oprah (Frank Rich, 16-Dec-07)
A Résumé Can’t Buy You Love (Frank Rich, 23-Dec-07)
The Obama Phenomenon (Bob Herbert, 5-Jan-08)
They Didn’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow (Frank Rich, 6-Jan-08)
Striding Past the Cynics (Bob Herbert, 8-Jan-08)
Lowering the Volume (Bob Herbert, 2-Feb-08)
Ask Not What J.F.K. Can Do for Obama (Frank Rich, 3-Feb-08)
Winds of Change (Bob Herbert, 5-Feb-08)